Sunday Funday: April 12

One of my good girl friends has a feening for hiking lately.  This past Sunday we decided to scratch that itch by planning a hiking trip to Quartz Mountain.  She had actually wanted to hike the Wildlife Refuge but that was in the opposite direction of how I had planned to spend my Sunday morning, so we decided to hold switch paths for this week.

I started the day by waking up early and heading to Altus for worship at my favorite church.  I love going there for many reasons, one being that I know I am completely there for God, not others' opinions or approvals.  I'm there for one reason only and that is heart-felt, beautiful worship.

Sure enough the praise was awesome and the holy spirit was strong.  The sermon was about the parable of the seeds.  I found it very inspiring and took several pages of notes from the discussion.  At twelve o'clock, as always, I was sad to leave the sanctuary but I knew it was time to continue my journey out in the world.

I had taken just a few steps outside when I saw a good friend of mine.  He informed me of an event going on downtown and told me I should come.  So I parked my car and checked it out.  It was the Walking on Chalk event hosted by Main Street Altus.  I had heard of this event and wanted to see it for myself in years past but had never made it.  I loved it!  Artwork all over the streets is fun to watch and enjoy.  Before too long I found myself paying five bucks to enter a drawing myself.  I knew I wasn't much up for the prize money because most of these artists had bags and bags of specialized chalk.  They had came early to stake out the good pieces of concrete and their works were premeditated.  Regardless, I had an hour to kill before my friends would arrive in Altus and I wanted to get some art out of my system.

For weeks a phrase out of an Elin Hilderbrand book had haunted me.  "She was her own happy ending."  The moment I read it I felt the connection and minutes later I saw the vision.  I had something I needed to create.  Because this was fresh on my mind I chose the Art Walk as a fair enough place to create it.

First I picked a smooth square slab of concrete, but I was soon told that adults had to use parking spaces, not squares.  I was okay with this, until I realized that the only smooth parking spaces were across the road and they had already been filled up.  A lady instructed me to use the parking spaces on this side of the road and try to find a smooth one.  The problem was, these spaces were on asphalt, therefore they were jagged and course, making it hard to chalk on.  I didn't have a choice though, so I complied.

Very soon I found myself getting extremely into my chalk art.  I was kneeling down then standing up and moving from one side of the parking slot to the other.  The hair, the brains, the beauty and colors of it all were coming together.  This was my masterpiece that needed to be seen and felt.  The process took me nearly an hour and I felt pleased with my work, though I knew it was rough and choppy due to the canvas.

Several of my friends greeted me when I finished.  Altus friends who just happened to be walking around.  I was invited to a bar-b-que and a different hiking trip.  Unfortunately around this time I needed to change out of my church clothes (jeans and a t-shirt) and into my hiking clothes (shorts and a tank top.)  So I headed to my friend Bailey's house to change clothes and catch up on life.  Of course, this always takes longer than 15 minutes and that was all the time I had until my girls were meeting up with me.

So I was late.

But I met the girls at a parking lot across town just a half hour later.  We drove into the North until we came to a trail we liked near Quartz Mountain.

The hike was beautiful!  We found ourselves off and on the path, in the middle of craters and even on top of a large rock.  The funniest part was that Katrina and I kept seeing identical scenes from the Lion King.  We saw the crevice where the hyenas hide, the valley when it was destroyed, the place where Simba crawled back up and even a few more.

My phone said we hiked about three miles.  It was exhilarating but it also made us very hungry.  Naturally, our final stop for the day involved sushi at our favorite hibachi joint.  We feasted.  Calamari, Crab Ragoon, Miso Soup, and House Salads for appetizers, plus two Sushi rolls and two hibachi plates.  We had hiked up quite the appetite!

Overall I would say this was a very memorable and fun Sunday.  We plan on hiking again very soon.

Release.

Some people have cooking.  For others its gardening, surfing, scrapbooking, pottery...

We all have that one thing that serves as a multi-faucet creative relief from the strains of  everyday life.  I feel as though it is so important to have that soul-satisfying activity that replenishes your spirit, mind and body.  Some may call it flow, hobbies or otherwise, but the fact is that it is an activity of total benefit for your being.

To be challenged and entertained at the same time is the secret.  Our mind gets bored and runs away with fantasies.  It's the creative outlets that bring us up into performance and help our ideas burst through the clouds in a constant journey towards something higher, something greater, something unknown and wild and satisfying.   I believe that's what these activities are for.

I seem to have a lot of them.   I am a very passionate, creative person and I love spending time alone with myself.  Although I currently don't get a lot of Haley time, I am constantly seeing how much it effects me.  Without ample time to myself I build up angst and flow-block.  It is essential that I have time completely alone to create and free up my mental energy and soul contentness.  It's a spiritual thing.

Writing, reading, painting, running, yoga, golf, swimming.   I want to do it all.  I need to learn guitar too.

I feel that these times are sometimes a form of worship.  It is the utter presence of aloneness and soul-vulnerability with God.  How can we go through the daily grind constantly without ever stopping to let out our inner being of mindfulness.

I need these breaks.  You need these breaks.

I firmly believe God needs us to take times like this for ourselves.

How do you release?

Release.
Release.  That's what it is.  It is a release.  It fills up and builds up until it is set free.  I hear artists speak of this.  Something inside you dwells up over a period of time and then, when it is fully complete...it begs and begs and begs of you to release it.  It is something that cries out to be created.  These depictments are sometimes odd or strange to us, but the more you connect with this creature the more you'll see the purpose and beauty and spirit-filled meaning of it.

Why don't we do more of this in our churches?

Spirit-led.

Spirit-filled.

Holy Spirit.

Welcome him in your place.

I miss those times of being alone with the Spirit always.  Creating a home environment that fosters spirited exploration and exuberance.

God, I don't know what your plans are for me.  I will never know what your plans are for me until they are here.  I am happy yet I am uncontent.  I am full but I am still lacking.  Jesus, I pray that I bloom while I am planted here, and I trust that you will lead me to live a full life if I trust you.  I will not miss out on anything if I am solidly walking with you in the day by day of this life.

Hold me father.

Thank you for giving me time, space and a place to release.

How to Follow Your Arrow

Everything has a natural place. Stuff naturally falls into place under the laws of the universe and the hand of God, we just have to relax and let them fall into place.  Much like painting or styling hair, we can't force things to go where they don't belong.  Or pottery, for example, have you ever tried to force clay where it doesn't want to go?  It's natural form holds some truth to it, regardless.

In the same way, God created you for a specific purpose.  You are to reach a certain people group that no one else can, and your story is to be unique from everyone else's.  

So why do we worry so much about fitting in or not fitting in?  Why are we in constant fear of being judged?  

I've come to find out that you will be judged regardless of the path you choose.  

"If you save yourself for marriage you're a bore,
If you don't save yourself for marriage you're a whore-able person

If you won't have a drink then you're a prude

But they'll call you a drunk as soon as you down the first one"

Those words of wisdom come from a song sung by Kacey Musgraves.  I love her lyrics because they are always so honest.  Here, have a listen:

Kacey Musgraves - 'Follow Your Arrow' from The Listener Label on Vimeo.

I think as Christians we are often pressured into doing stupid things that are deemed "cool."  We probably do these things for fear of being left-out of a social circle, joke or something else.  Maybe it's a work thing.  Interestingly enough, if you do something like that then you will go to church to find your church friends have shunned you.

I guess the point is that your conscious and God's judgement are what you have to live with it.  Those are the ones that matter...much more than other people's opinions.  That, is what I would call, your "arrow."  Stay true to your integrity--not only as a Christian--but as a human being too.

It is okay to say "no" and it is okay to stick out like a sore thumb at times.  That's life.  You're not always going to please everybody.  Especially if you're a Christian!

1 Peter 2:11

"Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul."

Did you catch that?  It is the sinful desires that wage war against your soul.  Not everyone else.

Ephesians 6:12

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

The inner arrow inside of you that tells you right from wrong is the Holy Spirit (assuming you are a Christian, if you are not then you do not have this gift.)  God gave you a tracking device to help you stay in His will!  It's there to help keep you from being miserable and making bad choices.  Isn't that sweet, yet incredibly annoying at times!  Jesus is a gentlemen.   Always.  He will not force you to listen to the arrow, but it's there in case you want too.  

Proverbs 10:17

"Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life,

 but whoever ignores correction leads others astray."

Follow that arrow ya'll!

Spiritual Gift Testamonies: Shepherding

I suppose it's time I share with you all my own spiritual gift journey.  As I have been restudying the gifts and reading everyone else's stories about their main gifts (this is the last call for submissions btw,)  I have cornered myself into reevaluating my own gift, or gifts.


A year ago last fall I took the test and found my top gifts looked something like this: faith, intercession, shepherding, and wisdom.


The following spring I took it again and received similar answers except this time mercy was very high up on the list.  Throughout that whole summer I really embraced mercy and thought it was definitely one of my main gifts, and for that season--it was.


A year later here I am taking spiritual gift tests again and mercy is back where it used to be, while faith, intercession, wisdom, and shepherding are all tied on three different tests, just as they were a year ago.
How interesting is that?

If you were to ask me my main gift I would say shepherding, but I'm not real sure why because I have four that rotate at the top of my list.  I guess I say shepherding because it incorporates the other three gifts within itself, where as the others are more separated.  


I may not know a whole ton about shepherding, but I know what it looks like it my life, and that is what I am going to share today.

Shepherding

I was about to put the definition into my own words, but then I googled it, and this fits much better.  In fact, I actually sat still for a few minutes after reading it, because this explains me so well.  What an interesting feeling, to be described by something outside of yourself or someone who knows you...anyhow, here is the definition of shepherding according to Gifted2Serve:

"The special ability that God gives to certain members of the Body of Christ to assume a long-term personal responsibility for the welfare of a group of believers."

This gift is a leadership gift.  This gift is often called "pastor," however, that name has a connotation of a specific position in the church.  In actuality, when pastors have this gift, their ability to continue sustained growth in their churches is greatly diminished, as they tend to require a certain level of interaction with every member of their congregation.  

Those with the gift of shepherding have a great need for long-term relationships.  Shepherds will sacrificially give themselves to other people in such a way that they are built-up in their faith.  Shepherds take personal responsibility for the successes and failures of those in the group that they invest themselves in.

Scriptures: John 10:1-18, Ephesians 4:11-14; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; 1 Peter 5:1-4"

That explains it all I feel like.  In fact, now that I am thinking about it, I wonder if faith, intercession, and wisdom are products of this gift.  It kind of seems like those three add to this one.  I'm not sure, but I love how God designed me.  I love how he designed you, and how each of us are so totally different!

I often think of my personality as a puppy dog.  I want to make friends with everyone I meet, and I want those people to be my very best friends for as long as we are both alive.  This is a wonderful way to live life, until it comes to deciding who will be the bridesmaids at your wedding.  (I am convinced there will have to be at least 53 at mine.)

Anyhow, part of this personality trait really seems to explain shepherding.  When I start investing in someone, I feel responsible for that person forever.  I have some friends from high school who live hundreds of miles away now, but I still keep pretty regular communication with them because I feel like it is my duty to give them spiritual direction.  (Doesn't make a lot of sense, I know.)

How God Uses It Daily

God definitely places these people over and over in my life though. When a huge storm blows in, they are quick to call me for who knows why, and I love pouring out scripture, encouragement, and direction into their lives.

One of my dearest friends I met in high school when she was a freshmen and I was a junior.  I took her under my wing and have loved her with all my heart since we met.  She is now thriving in college, going on mission trips and loving people till it hurts.  I still talk to her weekly and intend to do so forever and ever, (despite other advice I have received.)

I love her and besides being her friend, I do feel responsible for her
spiritual wellness forever.  God speaks to me about her, through her, and for her.  She is always in my prayers.  We share books, stories, and laughter through God-glorifying time together and phone calls.  I take joy in every step she takes closer to Jesus.  When God shows me something she needs to work on, I pray about it, call her, point it out, and she usually agrees that God has been showing her the exact same thing.  She is my sheep.

As wonderful and life-giving to me as this is, I am beyond blessed...because I have another little sheep too! This one is much younger and much different.  We met through sheep one and God used me to pour some dating sense into her head.  She saw that God had his hand on me and wanted more of this God.

She now meets with me once a week and we talk all about God's goodness, grace and mercy while I lead her through healing, redemption, and God's love.  Although Satan tries to strip her from me often, we both know deep down that this is a forever thing.

God placed me over her through and through.  I love her, and I take joy in watching her grown, fall, learn, and love.  While I am supposedly the shepherd, she has helped me grow equally as much.  I can not wait until she starts reproducing disciples! She shares Jesus with everyone she knows, and this makes my time and commitment to her worth while.

Struggles/Doubts

Often times I feel like a slacker because I do not run around witnessing to people everywhere I go.  For a while I said it was because I wasn't made that way, and for another time I said I just can't stand to sell people stuff.  Don't get me wrong, I love Jesus with all my heart, I'm just not real into pressuring them into making decisions and shoving tracks down there throats.

But lately God has really helped me work through all this.  For one thing, I have found out that just like Kaity, I do not have the main gift of evangelism, so I will never be like people who do.  That's fine, because God made this way for a reason.

On the other hand, he has made it very clear that I am to be bolder in sharing my faith and asking others if they would like to love God the way I do.  This has been an excitingly amazing fun awesome great stupendous adventure the last couple of weeks. I'm still working on it, but I love it.  

While I love people and share my belief and hope with them quite often, I rarely see souls come to the Lord. I pray and pray like nobody's business, sharing and hoping and asking them to receive this life-changing gift, but these are long term prayers that take time to fully grow.  I enjoy every bit of the process though.

I say this, because the fact is, if I went to the mall and met ten new people and led each of them to Christ, I would be above and beyond my heart's capacity.  Because of my long-term mindset and shepherding gift set, I know I would have a huge desire to disciple each and every one of these ten believers, and not just for a little bit, but for a lifetime.  While this is wonderful and pleasing to God, we all know it is humanly impossible.

If I failed to faithfully disciple all of these believers for their entire lives, I know I would feel responsible for their spiritual walks...leading to my guilt and shame to circumstances I have no control over.

Now I realize why God gives me certain people to focus on long-term, rather than using me to lead the masses to him through evangelism.  Thank you Jesus for making me the way you want me.  I love you, I love this gift, and I love how I can use it to serve you. :) 

So faith, intercession and wisdom are poured out of me and onto my sheep.  

A few weeks ago I was freaking out as many young women do when they think about things for some period of time.  Stressed and anxious I asked God, "What do you want me to do!?  I'm so lost and confused. Please..God, I don't know....."

"Feed my sheep."

That's all he said.  My heart was silenced and I could say no more.  I tried to open my mouth, but all I could hear was,

Feed my sheep.

"Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. 
Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood."

Acts 20:28

Spiritual Gift Testimonies: Administration

I hope you are enjoying the spiritual gifts series we have been working through together.  I have been so encouraged by all of the posts I have received from my wonderful friends!  Today's post was written by a beautiful young woman with a bright future in the ministry.  Her and I have been working hard on a new ministry called Cycle Breakers.  She is kicking off our first speaking arrangement this Wednesday at a local church!  Stay tuned for more about that soon! :)

Her spiritual gift is Administration, and here is her journey involving that.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Almost a month ago, God taught me a cool lesson on spiritual gifts.  It started while a girl was explaining her passion for sharing the gospel.  She literally sees flames on the foreheads of lost people!  She talks to numerous complete strangers about Jesus every day and averages two salvations per week.  Listening to her left me wishing I had the gift of evangelism!

Around the same time, a close friend and I were discussing the real-life dreams of a girl she disciples.  Curiously, my friend began reading a book on dreams and learning about the gift of prophesy.  Then, one night during a group dinner before a BSU event, a guy started explaining how vivid his dreams were, too.  I wanted the gift of prophesy!!

That night, the speaker addressed ways to have a multiplying ministry.  The personal stories he used as examples made it very clear that his spiritual gift is evangelism, like the girl who sees flames.  I was back to coveting the gift of evangelism.

It was during that night, that God told me I needed to do my job.  “Kaity, each of you has a job.  Do yours!  I need you to do your job, not someone else’s!”

My spiritual gift is administration.  This has always been obvious, but I never knew it.  When asked, I would tell people my strongest gifts were leadership, service, and encouragement.  I do have these gifts, but none of them are my main spiritual gift.

I never focused on administration, but God is telling me to do so.  I think I ignored it, because I didn’t fully understand it.  I thought it sounded boring.  I thought administration meant I’d be locked in an office all day, by myself, with piles of paperwork, accomplishing nothing for eternity.

Administration is the ability to organize people and resources in a very efficient manner.  I can get entire groups on the same page within seconds.  I plan, organize, and carry out events, all while making sure everything is done correctly, on time, and without waste.

Administrators are very good with details.  We have an extremely strong awareness of how each individual person, or part of the group, is contributing to the overall goal.  We always know if each resource is being used in the best way possible, and immediately fix it, if it is not.

Regardless of how we think our job looks in the eyes of others, our job is important.  Each spiritual gift is necessary for the body to be effective and function properly as a whole.  Seek God out to discover your gift, and do it."

“They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers.  They all march in line, not swerving from their course.  They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead.  They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks.”  

Joel 2:7-8

Think you relate to Kaity's gift of administration?  Check out the verses recommended on this site: http://mintools.com/gifts-list.htm#administration

Spiritual Gift Testimonies: Exhortation

As we continue our journey through spiritual gifts, today's post features a wonderful woman whom I respect very much.  Much like me, she has a heart for women and spreading the gospel.  She lives in a gorgeous home with a wonderful husband and several joyful children who love her dearly!  For more about today's author, check out her blog, A Heart Consumed.

"Exhortation & faith run hand in hand for me as far as spiritual gifts go. To be quite honest how could they not, in my opinion. I discovered these gifts became more & more present when I began to seek the Lord with my whole heart. Sorta like the by-product of my relationship with Him. The more I sought the Lord the more I felt compelled to exhort & I had the faith as well to do this no matter the situation.

 I realize now after several years of operating in God’s truth that the ability to “come along side”  someone with with words of encouragement and counsel to help them be all God wants them to be is a gift (Romans 12:8) and so was the ability to believe God was capable.(faith).

 The Greek word for exhortation is paraklesis or the calling to one’s side. I enjoy this gift & have learned the importance of keeping it in balance. When you are gifted with exhortation it is easy to get sucked into the chaos of others. I say this out of love. 

There are times when you offer yourself so much to others that you may be out of balance with the most important God-given relationships such as a spouse & children if you are married or a parent. Possibly with your parents or even closest friends.

 It is important to exhort where God leads you, to be realistic when you see that the receiver is beginning to turn to you as their source instead of them seeking God for themselves. Always gently remind those you are exhorting that Jesus death on the Cross bought them all that they would ever need in life to live victoriously. We are simply allowing God to use as His vessels when we utilize our giftings!"

If you think Exhortation may be one of your main spiritual gifts, check out this website for more details: http://mintools.com/gifts-list.htm#exhortation

Spiritual Gift Testimonies: Servanthood

Today's post starts our examination of each individual gift.  This post is from a wonderful woman I have always admired in the faith.  She is a 23 year old from a very, very small town in southwestern Oklahoma.  She is very involved with her campus ministry, leading bible studies and discipling young college girls.  She also has volunteered her summer break the past few years to serve at a evangelical camp for youth students.

Ann's gift is servanthood.  Here is how she explains it:

"Servanthood--- To me this is the willingness and the desire to serve, to meet, the physical, emotional, mental and most of all spiritual needs of others. This is not a task that one can do on their own. This can only be done by the power of God.

Everyone is called to serve in one way or another, but when this ability is something that comes natural or comes without even thinking about it, it is then that I see it as a gift from God.

Daily there are things that need to be done in the lives of others, but it is being able to discern what those things are and seeing the tools you have been equipped with to accomplish those task that need to occur.

Ultimately you are not doing the work, it is God doing the work through you. Listening to someone can be an act of service to someone in need of a listening ear.

We all serve but it is when service is done with the sole purpose of glorifying God and the desire to truly help someone that it is servanthood."

Do you think this might be your main gift?  Check out this guide to studying servanthood: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~sdsunavs/resources/Servanthood.pdf. 

Spiritual Gifts 101.2

As I said in my post, Eagerly Desire the Greater Gifts:

"The way I understand it, each member of the body of Christ is given a special gift from the Holy Spirit.  The gift is not just for the individual to soak up in their own life, but to be shared with others members of the body.  In this way, if every member is living out fully what they were called to be--obeying and trusting God with every spiritual move--then the entire church would be functioning as a body!  

If those who were called to evangelize would go and evangelize, and those who were called to pray would pray without ceasing, while those who are called to teach would teach faithfully, I think every member in the body would benefit from unity, working together, and therefore grow closer to Christ in love (Ephesians 4:16.)"

Do you understand what this means?  You were given a specific role to play in this great big story about God and his love for creation.  He CHOSE you to play out a distinct part in His grand scheme!  

What are you gonna do about that??

Well, as Paul puts it, "...If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.  If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging. let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully." --Romans 12:6-8

In other words: GO DO IT!!  Let the love and grace of Christ bubble up in you so much that it has to flow out of you all over the place, or else you are going to explode!  As a true believer in Christ, you should desire to do this already!  Yes, sin gets us off course from these desires, but if you truly understand grace you will come back to your senses, crave God, and serve him.

That's the trick.  If you aren't fully sold out to God, you aren't going to want to use your spiritual gift all the time, because you will be operating out of your own strength, which is an instant fail.

In fact, the one rule we are given in exercising these gifts is this: It must be done with love.  1 Corinthians 13:4-7 tells us that exercising our gifts and preaching and teaching and everything else is absolutely WORTHLESS, have we not love.  

And 1 John 4 tells us that God is love, and therefore we must put him first and foremost before everything else.  Matthew 16:33, 27:39-40.  

Spiritual Gifts 101

So in last two posts I really focused on painting a picture of who the Holy Spirit actually is.  I feel like this is foundational to understanding spiritual gifts.  As the name suggests, spiritual gifts are given to us by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7.)  It is a unique "gift" that each of us receive when we make the choice to allow God and his spirit authority in our life.  


Their are several different spiritual gifts, although most theologians have differentiating views on which are truly on "the list" of biblical gifts.  From personal Bible study, here are the gifts I have found in scripture:

• wisdom
• knowledge
• faith
• healing
• miraculous powers
• prophecy
• discernment of spirits
• tongues
• interpretation of tongues
• apostleship 
• teaching
• helps
• administration
• serving
• encouraging
• leadership
• mercy
• pastors

The first set of gifts (in black) comes from 1 Corinthians 12:4-11.  Although some of the gifts in black are repeated throughout the other passages, I highlighted those that were in addition to the 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 gifts.  Therefore the purple gifts come from 1 Corinthians 4:27-30, the red gifts come from Romans 12:6-8, and the blue from Ephesians 4:7-13.

Again, out of this whole list, many are repeated several different times throughout the different passages, I just highlighted them to help you differentiate a little.

So here is my Bible-based list of gifts we may receive from the Holy Spirit.  These are each wonderful and amazing gifts within themselves, and I plan on exploring them individually at a later date.

Now because of several different reasons, I believe that we can have a mixture of all the different gifts.  Many of the actions reflecting these gifts, come purely out of a heart that knows and loves God, and thus bears fruit (Ephesians 5:22, John 15.)

I also believe that we can pray and ask God for strength in different gifts, so we can better glorify him (1 Corinthians 14:1, Psalm 37:4, Matthew 7:7.)  

However, I also believe that God has specifically given each of us one very distinct gift, to which he bases our works and duties around (Ephesians 2:10, 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12.)

As 1 Corinthians 12 describes, we are each given one particular role to play in the whole body of the church.  This is the coolest and most exciting part!

Did you know you had a role to play?  How does that make you feel?

What does it make you want to do?

Do you know what your spiritual gift is?

POP Quiz Today!!

It's Friday!!  And if you are a student of any sort, you know what that means--POP QUIZ!!  Gotta love the teachers who always pulled those stunts...tisk, tisk, tisk.


Anyhow, I really do have a quiz for you all, but it is fun and will produce spiritual/individual growth for you I promise!


As I mentioned, and have been mentioning...the next series of blog posts will be heavily focused on the spiritual gifts.  Because I don't want you to be left out, I think it would be really awesome if you took some time and figured out what your main spiritual gifts are, at least so you can compare them to the posts and see what you think.  As I mentioned in last Saturday's post, you can use this to contribute to my blog, but that is entirely up to you. 


I just think this is a great exercise for any believer.  Anyhow, here are the links once again:


     Here's a short one:http://archive.elca.org/evangelism/assessments/spiritgifts.html

     Medium length: http://buildingchurch.net/g2s-i.htm

     and here's a longer one: http://www.kodachrome.org/spiritgift/

You can do whichever ones you want! The long one is my favorite, but it does take a while to complete.  After completing your assessment, I then want you to pray and examine your life.  


Monday we will get started on this exciting series!!  See you then :)

Welcome the Holy Spirit

Throughout all that God has taught me about the Holy Spirit, he has also laid a song deeply on my heart for this time of learning in my life.  I first heard the song played by The Cody Dunbar Band, but below I have attached the song by the original artist.

Here are the lyrics:

There is nothing worth more

That will ever come close

Nothing can compare

You're our Living Hope

Your Presence

I've tasted and I've seen

Of the sweetest of loves

Where my heart becomes free

And my shame is undone

Your presence Lord.

Holy Spirit you are welcome here

Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere

Your glory God is what our hearts long for

to be overcome by your presence Lord.

Your presence Lord

There is nothing worth more

That will ever come close

You are our Living Hope

Your presence Lord.

I've tasted and I've seen

Of the sweetest of loves

Where my heart is set free

And my shame is undone

Holy Spirit you are welcome here

Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere

Your glory God is what our hearts long for

to be overcome by your presence Lord.

Let us become more aware of Your presence

Let us experience the glory of Your goodness.

Lord

Holy Spirit you are welcome here

Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere

Your glory God is what our hearts long for

to be overcome by your presence Lord.

Here's the video:

I hope you sat with eyes closed and heart open as you worshiped the God who inspired this song, and if not, I challenge you to play it again, but this time with a receptive heart.  

The lyrics to this song are so simple, yet so incredibly powerful.  To welcome the Holy Spirit is a huge step, yet it can be one of the most amazing steps you ever take.

Have you ever actively sought out the Holy Spirit?  Do you think the Spirit feels welcome in your presence, or do you constantly shut it out with all the "stuff" of life?

How can you be more open and receptive to the Spirit of God?

Semester Reflections: The Holy Spirit

As I am approaching the half-way mark of my semester, my bloggings will start to include an increasing amount of reflection posts from this side of the half.  I have noticed three huge themes God has used in my walk with him this semester:  wisdom, the holy spirit, and the poor.

Although those are in the order of significance, my posts will not be.  I'm starting off by expanding on what God has taught me about the Holy Spirit, which will lead into a series of posts about the "greater gifts" of the holy spirit (as mentioned in last Friday's post,) and then I will present a series of posts featuring Spiritual Gifts, and what these look like in our every day lives.

As I said, for now I would like to share with you what God has taught me in regards to the Holy Spirit.  Throughout this journey, he lead me to several different passages that teach us more about the Holy Spirit, and who he is.  The book I just reviewed, Dream Language, also pointed me to the dig further into specific scriptures that dealt with the Holy Spirit.

First, a little introduction of "The H.S."  If you have studied the Bible at all, you know that our sin eternally separated us from fellowship or communion with God, but because of his infinite love for us, he sent his Son to come live with us, teaching us and instructing us in the ways of God, then ultimately giving his life up for us, thus restoring our connection and relationship with the God of all creation.

It was for this reason, that Jesus' disciples worried about how they would communicate with God when Jesus arose back into heaven (John 16.)  Of course, as always happens when we are worried, Jesus assured the disciples that this communication method had already been worked out and blessed far beyond our understanding.  "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away.  Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you." (John 16:7)


Therefore, the Holy Spirit's language is even greater for us, that the words coming from Jesus' physical mouth.  Not only that, but it is only through the Holy Spirit that we can reread the words of Jesus' physical mouth and fully understand them.  How great is our God to bless us above our own imaginations!

The Spirit gives us access to a secret language between our spirit and God's.  In 2 Corinthians 2:6-8 we are told that the language that comes from walking with Christ is quite different from the language of the world.  The Bible says it is "a message of wisdom among the mature...a secret wisdom that God destined for our glory before time began."  How cool is that?

The idea of a "secret language" between our hearts and God's makes me think of my elementary school days when Pig Latin and Ong language were cool.  My friends and I would speak these silly dialects all day long, laughing and enjoying the fact that no one else knew what we were saying.  It was our own secret language.

Until of course, everyone else discovered it...


The thing about the Holy Spirit is that it is closed to those who are not believers.  Verse eight says, "None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."  Did you get that, none of the rulers.  That means the rich and famous people we look up too on earth--they don't understand this secret language because they are still living in the world, not turning away from it and walking with Christ.

A life given fully to God is a hard and painful one, but the blessing of the Holy Spirit is one reward for choosing this difficult journey.

Verses 10-12 really taught me something insightful.  Only the Spirit knows both the depths of our heart, as well as the depths of God's.  How beautiful.  The Word of God says it is only through the help of the Holy Spirit that we are able to heal and understand the depths of our souls, and with that, we are able to hear God's spirit too.  His spirit.  The depths of his heart that are so rarely searched out.  This is where the Spirit soars and longs to take us.

Those without the Spirit do not understand the Spirit.  Verse 14 says, "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."  How much the unbeliever misses.

I promise you readers, if you had a taste of the heart and Spirit of God--you would never in a million years turn it down again.  In fact, you would spend the rest of your life trying to fill that craving with a new taste of his oh-so-filling Spirit.  Think about that for a minute...

"Eagerly Desire the Greater Gifts"

A verse I found through reading Dream Language, was 1 Corinthians 14:1.  It says, "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy."

Wow, what a bold verse!  As I stated in my earlier "How Dreams Fell Into My Lap", I have a friend with the gift of prophecy--two actually, because we just discovered another who has this special gift.  I also have a friend who has been prophecied into by a preacher he did not know.  I watched this calling drastically change his life.

Other than these few instances, I have not ever heard about this gift, nor studied it, nor seen it in all my twenty years of church, retreat, and evangelism services.  And yet, here I am studying the Word of God in which I am told to "eagerly desire" this gift of prophecy!

How does this all work out?  If this is such an important spiritual gift, why do I not actively see it in our churches, and why does the body of believers not regularly pray for such bestowing of the Holy Spirit?

If I haven't stepped on your toes already, I'll take it a step farther.  Once--in all my years with churches and ministries--only once have I studied the spiritual gifts, and even that was briefly.

Thankfully, that one study last year led me on to dive much, much deeper into the study of spiritual gifts; what they look like, how they are given, and what God uses them for.

The way I understand it, each member of the body of Christ is given a special gift from the Holy Spirit.  The gift is not just for the individual to soak up in their own life, but to be shared with others members of the body.  In this way, if every member is living out fully what they were called to be--obeying and trusting God with every spiritual move--then the entire church would be functioning as a body!  


If those who were called to evangelize would go and evangelize, and those who were called to pray would pray without ceasing, while those who are called to teach would teach faithfully, I think every member in the body would benefit from unity, working together, and therefore grow closer to Christ in love (Ephesians 4:16.)

One of my friends lately keeps telling us that we have put God "in a box."  
I'm really starting to see her point.  If the churches aren't teaching us about our spiritual gifts, who will?  If the arms aren't moving then how will the moving feet be any good?

I think we often see the greater gifts (tongues & prophecy) as over-spiritual, too mystical, or far beyond our denomination's beliefs.  But by taking these things out of the church, not only are we limiting God, but we are going against his will and disobeying him as our Father.

When the Word of God says eagerly desire the greater gifts, especially prophecy, you best believe I'll be  on my knees begging God to use me in this special way.  The question is, will you join me?

Dream Language: What the book is all about

James W. and Michal Ann Goll have a long history of studying and interpreting God’s secret  language of dreams with mankind.  Co-founders of Encounters Network, Michal and James teamed together to write an insightful book called Dream Language.  


As described in his book, James spent his entire life receiving and interpreting dreams from the Lord.  Michal Ann joined him on this journey in young adulthood, when they were married. The two of them were members of the Harvest International Ministries Apostolic Team, until 2008 when Michal Ann went on to be with the Lord.

The stories and understanding of Michal Ann and Jim naturally give them authority to write such a book as, Dream Language.  The book covers three fundamental ideas for receiving and understanding the dream language.  First, they lay out the framework for this idea: where do dreams come from, how is it biblical, how does it apply to us now.  These are all questions that the first part of the book explores through scripture, experience, and wisdom.  

Part two is entitled, “Learning the Vocabulary.”  In this section of the book readers learn about the diversity of dreams, the interpretation of dreams, and how to better understand these dreams.  Personally, this was my favorite section.

Finally, the reader will learn how to walk in wisdom with the gift of dreams.  Through this part we hear from Michal Ann’s personal dream journey, and are again reminded of the importance to write our dreams down immediately after awakening.  The Golls offer thousands of other insights and ideas throughout the book, each grounded deeply in biblical doctrine.

One thing I would have liked to see done differently, is more expansion on the dream categories themselves.  I wonder, “How do I categorize my dreams, and how do I determine the level of the dream itself?”  I love the organization Goll has laid out, but I would like to know how to utilize it more.  

Of course, the third part of the book really emphasizes turning to God for interpretation, and using the spirit as our main guide, I would just like to have seen the book expand in these areas more.

Overall, I found the book to be deeply spiritual and eye-opening to the encounters and words of God himself.  I told God this morning that I was still processing all the information I have received from that book. I feel like the aftermath of Dream Language will be more like a journey, and less like another book nestled on the shelf.


I recommend this book to anyone looking for a deeper level of intimacy with the Lord. The reading level is appropriate for all levels, and the content can help strengthen any one's faith.

Article first published as Book Review: Dream Language: The Prophetic Power of Dreams, Revelations, and the Spirit of Wisdomby James W. and Michal Ann Goll on Blogcritics

How "Dreams" Fell Into my Lap

Throughout my entire life, I have always been a very active dreamer.  At least 2-3 times a week I wake up with the aftermath of a crazy dream in my head.  Most commonly I dream about people.  As you may know, most dreams leave us to awake with a deep emotion of some sort, and so normally I wake up and instantly feel burdened to pray for whoever showed up in my dream the night before.


I thought this was a great approach, considering my knowledge of dreams, and thus, I never put any more thought into it.  Quite often I would in fact share my dream with those involved, but after a few days the dream was out of my mind and gone forever.


Then, about a month ago, this idea of God speaking to us through dreams really became apparent in my life.  Everywhere I turned, “dreams” kept popping up.  It seemed like no matter who I had lunch with, they all had to start our conversation with, “I HAVE to tell you about this dream I had last night!  It was so crazy.”

I knew God was repeating this dream phenomenon for a reason.  So I prayed a little bit about what this all meant, and again waited patiently for God to explain.

Then one weekend I was in my zone at Barnes and Nobles, where I was searching up and down the Christian relationship section, looking for my next good read.  As I was heavily focused on all the dating and marriage books, I fumbled across a beautiful book called “Dream Language: The prophetic power of dreams, revelations, and the spirit of wisdom.”

Alas, fate was mine!  For one obvious reason, it was dreams.  But for another thing, I noticed the title contained the word “prophetic.”  You see, one of my dearest friends discovered this summer that she has the gift of prophecy.  Since then, her and I have been on a journey to better figure out what this looks like and how she can more effectively use the gift God has given her.  

So I grabbed the book and before I could turn to the back cover, I knew that God had laid this book in my path for a reason.  It wasn’t just for me, but Julie too.  Also, dreams hadn’t just been coming up in my life so that I could learn a lesson, but so Julie could understand too.

After thumbing through the book to make sure there were no “occultic practices” as we so often judge books with, I bought the book along with several others and left the store overly excited to start reading!

Julie and I talked about it, and we decided she was going to read the book first, and then I would receive it after her.  So I gave her the book, and began anxiously reading some other biblical book about marriage and relationships.

Here’s where a twist of God’s flavor comes in.  He didn’t want Julie to read the book first!  Over and over again, dreams kept coming up, both in my sleep, and in my conversations.  My friends were having visions, my family was dreaming revelations, and I was desperate to understand this language.

Fed up with waiting for my turn (it had only been a week,) I visited Julie and asked if I could read the book first instead.  She was more than happy, because she had since then started several book-based bible studies, and was completely overwhelmed with reading.

Yesss...I reclaimed my book and went home to instantly read the first third of the book.  How much I had to soak in!  There was such truth, and new insights, and deeper understandings.  I read the first third in one weekend, and then God told me to put the book down and cultivate the lessons learned over the course of the next week, so that’s what I did.  

At first I was very hesitant with every new idea the book presented.  Holy Spirit..er, uh...I’m Southern Baptist, and I don’t know how much of that I believe.  Prophecy huh?  Well...I’ll just have to check that out with scripture first.

Thank God for teaching me to test and discern every spirit before taking it in!  As I worked my way through the book, I carefully looked up each of the scriptures; testing them and studying them so I could get the full meaning.

Just as God intended, I grew and strengthened my faith with each new discovery.  Wow--why doesn’t our church do this?  It’s biblical!  Why haven’t I asked for dreams and revelations before?  Obviously God speaks through them!  How is it that an entire culture and generation of people has totally discredited God’s intimate communication with us through dreams?

Fortunately for me, God, James Goll, and the Holy Spirit are leading me through discovery of this beautiful process, and next time I will share with you a much shorter post, describing the book in its entirety.  


The next post will be my review of this interesting book.

How do you stumble across good reads? What makes you decide to pick up a book?

Do you ever feel like God literally places books in your hands?

Holy, Holy, Holy

Ho-ly [hoh-lee] adjective.
    1. specially recognized as or declared sacred by religious use or authority; consecrated: holy ground.
    2. dedicated or devoted to the service of God
    3. having a spiritually pure quality: a holy love


Greek: hagios
    Sacred (physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated)
    [properly clean, innocent, modest, perfect, chaste, clean and pure.]

I did not make up the Greek definition.  Read through the second line and tell me what holy looks like to you.

1 Peter 1:14-16

"As obedient children, 

do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  

But just as he who called you is holy, 

so be holy in all you do; 

for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'"

2 Corinthians 7:1 says, "...let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."  What contaminates your body and spirit?  The evil desires of your flesh no longer control you because God has set you free in his love.  We are now free to be holy.  As Christians we want to be holy because it is a form of loving and worshiping God. It is a form of imitating God, which is the whole goal of our life.

So once again I ask you, "What contaminates your body and spirit?"  What is that secret sin have you been holding on to, the one that is slowly eating away at your holiness, separating you from the joy of Christ.  It might be a sin you just recently picked up, or it might be a long-term sin you never really got rid of in the first place.

Either way, do you see the effects it is having on your walk with the Lord?  Do you see how this desire contaminates your body?  Get rid of it!  Leave it now and turn to your God who has promised to receive you as soon as you let go of the unclean things. (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)

More on Love..

1 John 4:7-20

§ GOD is the source of our love (Jesus)

§ JESUS is our example of love (his life)

§ THE HOLY SPIRIT is our power to love

§ We must rely on God for the power. Romans 5:5

§ Faith is the foundation,

§ Hope is the attitude,

§ And LOVE is the action.

§ God’s love is made complete when we love one another.